The first flights carrying deported illegal migrants from the United States arrived in Costa Rica on Wednesday, US media reported.
The migrants, travelling from San Diego, California, to San Jose, Costa Rica, are from China, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The migrants have no criminal records but are undocumented. Among those deported are 65 minors and at least two pregnant women, Costa Rican Deputy Interior and Police Minister Omer Badilla said.
Upon landing, the migrants made the six-hour trip to the town of Corredores on the border with Panama, where they will be housed in a temporary migrant care centre.
The United States is paying for the flight costs, including the flights that will eventually take these migrants to their home countries. The International Organisation for Migration will provide humanitarian support.
The official said Costa Rica agreed to accept the migrants “because of our history and our customs as defenders of human rights” and that the agreement with the Trump administration was not based on any special conditions.
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said at a news conference Wednesday that the country was helping its “economically powerful brother from the north.”
On Monday, Costa Rica said it was willing to accept migrants from the US who are citizens of other countries. Earlier, Panama and Guatemala also offered to do the same. The country’s presidential administration said in a statement that 200 migrants from Central Asia and India would arrive on a commercial flight from the US on Wednesday.
Throughout his political career, US President Donald Trump has taken a tough stance on migrants. Upon taking office in January this year, he promised to deport “millions” of migrants.
